VIEWPOINT | It’s time to focus on the facts
Guest column by Ryan Brunner, South Dakota Governor's Office
Next Tuesday, the legislature will meet to consider and approve the proposal for a new men’s prison brought forward by the prison task force. One choice is to vote yes and support meaningful, program-based incarceration, including faith-based rehabilitation. The other is to vote against a safe workplace for officers and against the wishes of police chiefs, sheriffs, states’ attorneys, and the Attorney General.
This summer, the prison task force unanimously determined that we need a new, 1,500 bed prison in Sioux Falls. The task force’s work included thousands of pages of information and hours of public comment, all live-streamed online. Yet, some are still claiming there are too many unanswered questions or spreading myths. It is time to focus on the facts to improve public safety for all South Dakotans.
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Myth: The prison will cost more than $650 million in total costs to build.
Fact: The legislation requires a 2/3rd vote and a construction manager to competitively procure every piece of the prison. There will be a guaranteed maximum price of $650 million or less. It would be illegal to go over the legislation’s cap. The only way this prison will cost $1 billion is if we keep kicking the can down the road.
Myth: The prison doesn’t need to be that large or will hold out-of-state prisoners.
Fact: Multiple consultant reports evaluated the current overcrowding and future prison system needs. A 1,500-bed prison was unanimously adopted by the task force and is built for South Dakota prisoners. All 50 states can participate in a compact that the Legislature approved, under which the state may trade inmates with other states for reasons such as security needs, witness protection, or victim protection. These “out-of-state” prisoners are few, and the state receives no revenue for housing an interstate compact inmate, nor do we pay another state. Illegal immigrant “detainees” can’t be held in any state prison by law. The bottom line is: 1,500 beds are needed to meet South Dakota’s need.
Myth: There are cheaper options, or we should add on to existing prisons.
Fact: The task force evaluated these options and found that adding to an existing prison will increase costs by at least 30-40 percent versus a new site. Construction inside a secure area requires delays, searches, and security of equipment to prevent inmates from hurting staff or escaping. Adding onto the Jameson Annex would add 192 beds for $138.2 million or $720,000 per bed. This is 66.2 percent higher than the plan the legislature will approve next week at $433,000 per bed. Another example: to build just the proposed 300-bed dormitory inside an existing facility would cost 34.1 percent more.
Myth: We should focus on reducing recidivism instead of building a new prison.
Fact: The task force agreed that we need to reduce recidivism. However, you need classrooms to teach classes. To hire teachers and counselors, you need offices. To provide treatment programming, you need space. To learn a vocation, you need the industrial space. Right now, mentally ill inmates can visit a few small behavioral health offices right next to the execution chamber — not exactly therapeutic. Southeast Tech has been approved for a satellite campus on-site at the new prison. The proposed facility provides the space to train these folks and get them to work, to provide drug rehabilitation, and to deliver mental health counseling. The department needs appropriate space to expand programs that prepare and coach offenders to reenter the community.
In summary, no one wants to build a prison if they don’t have to. Unfortunately, they are a necessary part of keeping South Dakota safe. In just the last couple of weeks, our nation has been exposed to heinous crimes that have shocked our public conscience. One of these crimes was the murder of a Ukrainian refugee who was stabbed to death by a repeat offender with 14 prior arrests. It is clear the new prison must focus on rehabilitation to show inmates what God’s love is through action.
Next week the legislature has a choice. This is the right plan, at the right price, and the right location. This should be an easy vote.
Ryan Brunner serves as Senior Policy Advisor for Public Safety and Director of Legislative Relations for Governor Larry Rhoden. His portfolio includes advising Governor Rhoden on policy issues regarding the Department of Corrections.
Counterpoints. 1. Cheaper options are a myth? We are told that adding beds to current facilities would cost too much, as told by the construction manager that wants the build contract for the new prison. Another firm, Elevatus Architecture claimed doing smaller projects like building 300 bed units at Springfield would be cheaper. DOC keeps bringing up the 192 beds adding a second floor. That was one option. Another option was to utilize the space between the old building and the Jameson, DLR group suggested a 200 bed unit there for low level offenders. There was a suggestion to build a 400 bed intake unit on the 28 acres of bare ground north of the current pen. You decide.
2. Since the task force was established, DOC has been presenting to the group how great the current programming is, and how many counselors they have and they have a new program call SAFER, a reentry program they started over a year ago - all sounds great. but wait...Corrections officers and inmates say the current classrooms sit empty, in SF and Springfield. Some recently released inmates say they were never in a classroom for addiction or reentry. What happened to all the programming we were doing 4 years ago? 15 years ago?
3. They want to tie the rehabilitation task force to the prison vote and it would be for the programming at the new prison. Seems wrong. Let's say it passes, the prison is 4 years away, What about programming at the other DOC locations now? We have classrooms sitting empty, why are we doing virtually nothing now. I totally agree we need programing for addiction, mental health and reentry, plus industrial training. Why do we need a vote on the prison to start?
4. Showing God's love through action? Why have almost all religious visitations been restricted? They say it is for safety reasons. Corrections officers tell me it's not the building that is unsafe, it is policy changes that make it unsafe.
5. Today I heard they think the $30 million annual operating increase could be offset by the new rehabilitation programs by creating lower recidivism. May want to read that again. If we can reduce $30 million in expenses by lowering the prison population, how do we justify the 1500 new beds. Lets try the programs first. Keep in mind reducing population does not have a direct correlation to reduction in operations cost. You still need staff, heat, lights, maintenance, etc
There are always two sides to every debate. This isn't an argument, just another point of view.
Some things don't seem to add up. 1) Illegal to go over the cap? --- It seems that the mode recently has been for the state to commit and then come to the legislature and say they need to pony up the money. History has people nervous. 2) No cheaper options --- Why are we talking about maximum security beds? We only have around 200 maximum security prisoners and over 500 beds. We don't need any more maximum security beds. Low and moderate security beds are much cheaper to construct. We don't need to spend anywhere close to $650 million. 3) We need a building to focus on recidivism --- Why does Florida have more prisoners in old buildings than we have prisoners in our entire prison system and recidivism of 25%. There have been reports from insiders that available programming space is not being used now. Also, outside prison support groups have been restricted from working in the prison. Is the issue really the building or do we have a management problem? Once there is better management will many of these problems go away? 4) We need 1500 max security beds ?--- See 2 above. We already have over double the number of maximum security beds that we need. Once we address recidivism why would we need 1500 beds of any type?